By We’ve all heard the stereotypes. Millennials are lazy. They’re killing industries that have quite literally survived wars. And of course, there’s my personal favorite: they can’t afford to invest in property because they’re buying too much avocado toast. Okay, then?
In this enlightening TED Talk, journalist Reniqua Allen speaks out against the inane suggestion that millennials are a lazy, entitled monolith. In particular, she highlights a group of millennials whose voices are often overlooked in the narratives surrounding millennials — BPOC.
“Our stories are still misunderstood, our bodies are still taken advantage of, and our voices? Our voices are silenced in a world that still shows little concern for our everyday struggles.”
Research has actually proven that young Black millennials have higher student debt, get ID’d more at voter registration booths, are incarcerated at higher rates, and make less money than their Caucasian counterparts, and have higher rates of unemployment, even with college degrees. Despite these struggles, Black millennial voices are barely heard, leading to a vicious cycle of economic violence.
“I think about all the challenges that so many Black millennials have to endure in a world that tells them they can anything they want to be if they work hard, but actually doesn’t sit down to listen to their dreams or hear stories about their struggle. And we really need to listen to this generation if we hope to have a healthy and civil society going forward, because millennials of color, they make up a fair chunk of the US and the world population.” -Reniqua Allen